“Whenever I smelled the same perfume on other women, no matter where I was, I was instantly transported back to that feeling of discovery. The sensation of fingertips against old paper, whose surface was powdery and fragile, like the membrane of a moth’s wing.”

“I just love the smell of an old book store and the feel of the crisp pages along my fingertips.”

“I have no country...my countrymen are the men and women who work against oppression- it does not matter where they are. With them I feel at home- we understand each other. Others are foreign to me." -Agnes Smedley in Daughter of Earth”

“The obstinate practicality of old women pierces and fortifies these families like the steel rods buried in walls of powdery concrete.”

“There is something about libraries, old libraries, that makes them seem almost sacred. There's a smell of paper and must and binding stuff. It's like all the books are fighting against decay, against turning into dust, and at the same time fighting for attention.”

“I felt on my back gentle pats like fragile wings just touching me, touching me: my grandchildren's hands.”